Category: week in review

Olympic week at school saw Mum spend much of the day with the kids. Here’s Huff wearing her “Greece” t-shirt (the kids were each assigned a country for the equipment).

Huff seemed to like having Mum around at lunchtime.

At the fete they had biscuits that looked like medals. Puff was on team Japan.

Here’s Huff’s Greece t-shirt.

Oh, and the custom Angry Birds costume.

On Saturday, we spent the afternoon at Blaxland riverside park. Puff was having a great time climbing and exploring the park.

Huff managed to climb all the way to the top of this climbing thing. She was pretty pleased with herself. That’s Dad the next level down – we don’t give her that much freedom yet.

Here’s Puff and Huff with Dad at the top of the tower.

We also caught up with some other friends, had lunch with the youth group kids, and visited Grandma and Doc, and some aunts and uncles.

Pretty quiet on the photo front this week. Dad was away at Basecamp in Katoomba on Friday night, but made up for it by walking with Puff to church on Sunday morning. We paused for a photo where we were looking tough. Or something.

On the way home, Dad walked with Huff. Not necessarily walked. Huff was keen to “race” every few house widths. She wasn’t the most sporting in letting Dad know where the finish line was each time, and even managed a “help! Help! Tricked you!” At one point. We stopped at the playground, and we also stopped to pick dandelions.

Today, Huff had some time with her cousin, enjoying being outside despite the rain.

Back into the routine of school again: and another milestone reached. Now both Huff and Puff are playing violin. Puff is playing at the Opera House next month, and Huff is just starting out, learning bowing technique and how to play the occasional note that’s not just open string. She’s enjoying it so far, even offering to practice without being asked! We’ll see how long that lasts.

On Saturday we went to the markets and the kids played in the little petting zoo that was set up. The smaller animals were passed around in little baskets, which limits the amount of handling and helps the animals enjoy their time a bit better.

Saturday night and Huff helped Dad make pasta – she was a good helper, and Dad enjoyed having a second pair of hands for some of the steps.

Sunday we spent much of the day with Grandma and Doc, though the kids managed a bit of time in the park.

Puff had a spelling bee at school this week, and Mum was proud to see him make it through the first round – next stop is representing the school! It was a new experience watching him know the spelling of a word, but struggle a little to think of how to spell the whole thing without a couple of false starts. He stayed with it, though, and did well.

Second week of the holidays and there are lot fewer photos than the first week. Mum and Dad were both sick, so there was a lot more sitting at home resting and doing home-based things, like watching DVDs and craft and such. 

The kids did get the chance to play bingo during the day. Huff’s number skills are coming along a lot further, and she can play.

With Mum resting at home, Dad and the kids went out for Vietnamese food. The kids are now both competent to roll their own rice paper rolls, although (as you can tell from the pile of greens on the plate) they’re not always keen to try all the ingredients with equal fervour.

Further craft during the week saw Puff finally making his volcano from the Smithsonian kit.

Huff on the other hand is wildly keen on imaginative play with paper dolls and making different shapes with tiny beads that are then ironed together into bigger toys.

And now, with a whirlwind, the kids are back to school, and the madness begins again. Both kids for their own reasons have been keen to see the holidays continue indefinitely, but they seemed to go okay with today’s return to school.

School holidays are in full swing this week. Mum and Huff went to a bead-making workshop, where they made their own beads from scratch. In fact, you can just see Puff in the background playing screens (he wasn’t such a fan of the idea of bead-making).

Dad and Huff grabbed a quick selfie as our short holiday commenced!

The whole family was a bit unwell, but we managed to cram a lot in. Huff was already asleep when we stopped at Goulburn, so Dad took Puff for a photo in front of the Big Merino. Next visit we’ll go inside and look out the eyes.

We had dinner with friends on our first night, and headed back to the hotel very late. The kids were sound asleep very quickly. Jazz (the blue toy in the photo) sleeps with her eyes open, I’m led to believe.

The next day we headed to the national museum to see the Play School 50th anniversary exhibition. The grown-ups were more excited than the kids to see a bunch of props from the beloved old show (Dad took a selfie with the rocket clock). Our kids feel less of a strong connection to the show, but enjoyed the exhibition nonetheless.

We headed downstairs to the “K-space” where kids can build their own virtual robots, and then take them in a 3D game adventure. They enjoyed the process quite a bit, and it was very efficiently run, especially for a free attraction.

We tested our friendship with the kids by stopping for coffee again after lunch. This photo was more from photo fatigue than from a lack of desire for a warm beverage on a cold-ish day.

That night we visited M&O for dinner. Puff had the chance to test his typing skills on an actual typewriter.

Huff was a mix of dancing coach and student.

The next day at our friends house, tired of the boys playing video games, Huff asked if she could borrow our friends’ Mum’s nerf toy. She looks like she could be an action heroine some day.

The next day we stayed with more family members, who have chickens in their back yard. The kids did a great job finding eggs, some of which were fresh enough to still be warm!

The kids had a great time playing board games near the wood fire.

We went for a tour of the property which was pretty chilly, but beautiful.

And the kids performed a “pretend safety audit” on the top floor of this shed.

It was a great family time together, though since then we’ve been home sick, trying to get some rest. If anything, the adults are recovering more slowly than the kids, though they’ve enjoyed some quiet time at home.

This was our first time having to take 2 kids to parent/teacher interviews. The school is trying out an online booking system for the interviews, and it made everything go more smoothly. It was good to talk to both teachers and get a sense of how the teachers see them, where they’re going well, and where they need improvement. And it was encouraging to hear back that they’re well behaved kids who interact well with other students.

Friday night one of the people from church was in a music concert, so we decided to go along and watch. Through a cancellation, we ended up in the front row, but after a big week of school, the kids weren’t able to go the distance. They stayed awake for our friend’s performance, but were asleep soon after, and we went home during intermission.

Saturday was election day. Mum and Huff both had their faces painted at the school fete.

After voting, we headed to Newtown where Dad and Puff grabbed a table at a nearby noodle house that also happens to be a cafe. Puff tucked into his milkshake with great fervour, but wasn’t such a fan of the noodles, having filled up on milk.

After that, we watched Finding Dory with Kel’s Mum – it was a very different film to watch as a parent than as a kid. 

Huff continues to progress with her reading, but there’s still the occasional time when she can persuade her big brother to read to her.

It’s school holidays now, but everyone is a bit run down and unwell. Still, we’re planning to get away from Sydney for a few nights: more detail next week!

What’s the impact of all these smartphones on kids? Sometimes they just want to remember a particular rock, so they ask you to take a photo of it. I’ve noticed different responses from Huff and Puff about smartphones. Puff wants to see what’s happening on your phone and what you’re reading (often without asking), while Huff wants eye contact and attention, unless the camera is on, in which case she wants to be silly for the camera.

Dad looked after the kids over the weekend while Mum had a weekend away (well, an overnight stay) with some other mums. We went out to the library, where Huff read Dad an entire book (so that Dad would then read Huff an entire book), and we borrowed a stack of other books for later. There was then some driving, and then some tears about not wanting to get out of the car, then more driving (back home), and then – after some time for everyone to calm down, and have snacks, it was time to tidy the kids’ room, and discard some old toys. We spent over 2 hours going through different things. Huff found a new temporary-favourite toy… a stretchy rubber skeleton she dubbed Mrs Skellibean.

Oh, and we had pizza for dinner and watched more Mythbusters reruns.

Sunday morning we had pre-church breakfast in a cafe. Huff was still keen on reading different things. She’s coming along well as a reader, starting to believe she can do it.

It was Huff’s choice of cafe (well, she wanted a cronut, and it was up to Dad to figure out the rest of the details.

The kids were glad when Mum was back home again, and happy to see the lollies she had brought back home. 

Oh, and we’re also reading a new kids Bible – The Child’s Story Bible – it’s more words than pictures, and there are some bits where it’s showing its age (1935) but it’s prompting good questions from both kids. 

It’s been a big week. With Mum feeling sick for a day or so, Dad has had to step up and run the house for a day or so (always a challenge when it’s unexpected), and so there’s been some extra juggling going on.

During the week, Mum managed to take Huff out for a hot chocolate.

Dad took her out for a scooter ride (after a long queue for a haircut with a somewhat screens-obsessed Puff.

Here we are at school at the start of Puff’s violin practice. Huff is in better spirits than Puff.

Oh, and Dad took Puff to an interrelate seminar where he was learning some of the concepts he needs to know about as he gets older. As Dad suspected, he already knew a lot from all his reading of science books.

We also spent some time with various friends at parties, catching up for lunch, and even having people over for dinner.

Dad has been doing some tidying around the house. It’s surprising what the kids want to keep, and what they’re happy to live without. Much of what we think the kids want to hang on to they’re happy to put in the recycling!

Big week. Dad picked the kids up from school once this week – they’d had peer support, and each had been given a balloon (Puff had already handed his to Dad). 

The kids went to their first PY winter camp, at which they had a lot of fun. They spent much of their time in “creche”, where they could play with toys and have fun away from the bigger kids. Here’s Huff trying out a wooden sandwich.

The kids had a great time at meals (eating a fair amount each time), and slept pretty well on top bunks. 

Dad was pretty busy working during the weekend, and the kids were missing him a bit, so when we made it home, they each had some one-on-one time. Huff chose to do some scootering (and a surprise babycino), and Puff wanted some help with some computer programming.

Looking forward to a regular weekend (and maybe some family time away in the school holidays).

It’s hard to make time for the kids a priority; that undistracted, unhurried time that’s so valuable. There are so many distractions: from smartphone screens to chores, to the frustration that comes from carving out the time and then the kids don’t want to do something “significant” enough. The best thing I’ve come up with is to make as many times where this can happen as possible.

Another busy week; one with lots of rain in Sydney and beyond. Mum and the kids picked up Dad from after his conference and then we went to visit their cousin for dinner. The kids had a great time playing with play doh.

Our week is still overshadowed by Angry Bird toys; Puff has come up with a game of “think fast… throw Angry Birds at Dad” and Dad plays a similar game with Puff. 

Sunday we visited Doc and Grandma to celebrate Doc’s birthday. Huff ended up with ribbons in her hair, which she was very happy about.

Huff has been more and more interested in reading her readers aloud to people. On Saturday we went to the movies to watch Octonauts, which was a little surreal – it’s odd to see them on the big screen. From there, Dad and the kids went home, and Dad played screens with Huff, and then encouraged Puff to try some programming, starting with a few rounds of Human Resource Machine. He’s a big fan of the Scratch programming language, devouring a library book on it, and already trying a number of different programs out.